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      McCarthy calls on Biden to accept spending cuts in debt ceiling fight

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      McCarthy calls on Biden to accept spending cuts in debt ceiling fightWhite House has said Biden will discuss issue after ceiling is lifted, while Republicans insist on cuts first Kevin McCarthy, the House speaker, called on Joe Biden to agree to compromises and spending cuts, as the two remain deadlocked over raising the nation’s $31.4tn debt ceiling.McCarthy spoke on Monday before Biden gives the annual State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday, aiming to get ahead of the president and reinforce his role as the leading congressional negotiator.The White House has said Biden will discuss federal spending cuts with Republicans, but only after the debt ceiling is lifted, while McCarthy has said Republicans will only lift the ceiling if Biden agrees to spending cuts. While the two sides disagree on the order of the subjects they are tackling, both say they will continue to talk.“Mr President, it’s time to get to work,” said McCarthy, whose Republicans won a narrow majority in the House of Representatives in November’s election.“We must commit to finding common ground on a responsible debt limit increase. Finding compromise is exactly how governing in America is supposed to work, and exactly what the American people voted for just three months ago,” McCarthy said.“Defaulting on our debt is not an option, but neither is a future of higher taxes, higher interest rates and an economy that doesn’t work.”House Republicans want to use the debt ceiling, which covers the spending programs and tax cuts Congress previously approved, as leverage to push spending cuts, after two years of Democratic control of the House and the Senate.Biden on Tuesday is expected to insist that raising the debt limit is not negotiable and US lawmakers should not use it as a “bargaining chip”, his top economic adviser, Brian Deese, said on Monday.“This bedrock idea that the United States has met all of its financial obligations for its existence as a country isn’t something that anybody should be using as a bargaining chip. It’s not a negotiable item,” Deese said.Biden seemed to question McCarthy’s ability to keep Republicans in line last week, calling McCarthy “a decent man, I think”, but noting the concessions he made to become speaker in January. Those included changing a rule of the chamber to allow any member to call for a vote that would remove him, rather than requiring a majority from either party.Despite what appears to be a standoff, McCarthy emerged from a meeting with Biden last week saying he believed the two could find common ground.A day later, McCarthy told reporters that the president had agreed to meet again.The White House press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, said the White House had been in touch with McCarthy’s staff on next steps.TopicsKevin McCarthyJoe BidenUS politicsUS CongressHouse of RepresentativesnewsReuse this content More

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      Trump documents: Congress offered briefing on records kept at Mar-a-Lago

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      Trump documents: Congress offered briefing on records kept at Mar-a-LagoLawmakers may not be satisfied given subsequent discoveries involving Joe Biden and Mike Pence US officials have offered to brief congressional leaders on their investigation into classified documents found at Donald Trump’s Florida residence, people familiar with the matter said on Sunday.Ted Cruz wants two-term limit for senators – and a third term for himselfRead moreA briefing could come as soon as this week but may not meet demands from lawmakers who want to review documents taken not just from Mar-a-Lago but also from the Delaware home and former Washington office of Joe Biden and the Indiana home of Trump’s vice-president, Mike Pence.Six months after agents at Mar-a-Lago conducted an unprecedented search of a former president’s home, the Biden White House faces bipartisan pressure to share what it found. Separate special counsels are investigating documents found in the possession of Trump and Biden.Officials have declined to answer most questions about what they found at Mar-a-Lago, citing the ongoing criminal investigation and a separate “risk assessment” of possible damage to intelligence sources.Mike Turner, who chairs the House intelligence committee, told NBC’s Meet the Press the administration told him it would brief this week.“This administration needs to understand we do have national security urgent matters,” the Ohio Republican said. He also called on the White House to brief him on the Chinese balloon shot down off the Carolinas on Saturday.He said: “What’s interesting is that the moment this balloon became public, I got a notice not from the administration that I’m going to get a briefing on this balloon, but they have to rush to Congress now to talk to us about Donald Trump’s documents.”Three people familiar with the matter confirmed a briefing was offered to the “gang of eight” – the Republican and Democratic leaders of the House and Senate and both intelligence committees. The people spoke on condition of anonymity. Any briefing is not expected to include direct access to documents, the people said.Senators Mark Warner and Marco Rubio, the Democratic and Republican leaders of the Senate intelligence committee, asked for that access in a letter to the attorney general, Merrick Garland, and the director of national intelligence, Avril Haines.It was unclear if the administration will discuss the Biden and Pence records. Turner told NBC records linked to Biden and Pence would be included but two sources said the briefing was expected to focus on Trump.The director of national intelligence and Department of Justice declined to comment.The justice department says around 300 documents with classified markings, including at the top-secret level, were recovered from Mar-a-Lago last August. FBI agents executed a search warrant after evidence led them to believe Trump and his representatives had not returned all classified files.Material taken included around 13,000 government documents, about 100 bearing classification markings. Some material was so sensitive justice department prosecutors and FBI investigators required additional security clearance.A special counsel, Jack Smith, is investigating whether to bring charges against Trump or anyone else. Prosecutors have said they are investigating possible violations of criminal statutes including willful retention of national defense information and obstruction. A grand jury in Washington has been hearing evidence and prosecutors have interviewed Trump associates.Trump has claimed the materials were declassified and that he had the power to do so just by thinking – a claim his lawyers have not repeated. They tried to have an independent arbiter conduct a review of the documents. A federal appeals court said Trump’s team was not entitled to that assessment.TopicsDonald TrumpTrump administrationUS CongressHouse of RepresentativesUS SenateUS politicsUS national securitynewsReuse this content More

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      Ted Cruz wants two-term limit for senators – and a third term for himself

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      Ted Cruz wants two-term limit for senators – and a third term for himselfTexas senator says he ‘never said I’m going to unilaterally comply’ with his own proposed restriction Ted Cruz has introduced a bill to limit US senators to two terms in office, thereby removing from Washington what he calls “permanently entrenched politicians … totally unaccountable to the American people”.Buttigieg backs Biden 2024 run but poll says most Americans don’tRead moreOn Sunday, however, he said he saw no problem with running for a third term himself.“I’ve never said I’m going to unilaterally comply,” the Texas senator said.Cruz was speaking to CBS’s Face the Nation.Elected to the US Senate in 2012, Cruz emerged as a face of the Republican hard right through stunts including reading Dr Seuss and impersonating Darth Vader during a marathon floor speech and prompting a government shutdown.Such behaviour did not make him popular in Congress. Al Franken, then a Democratic senator, once said, “I like Ted Cruz more than most of my other colleagues like Ted Cruz. And I hate Ted Cruz.”Nonetheless, Cruz challenged strongly for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016, finishing the primary second to Donald Trump.After a brief spell as a rightwing alternative to Trump, Cruz won a second term in 2018 despite a strong challenge from the Democrat Beto O’Rourke.Cruz’s name now features, if not strongly, in polling regarding the notional field for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024 – when he will be up for Senate re-election.Congressional term limits are a popular policy offering on the American right.Introducing his bill to achieve a constitutional amendment, an effort mounted with Ralph Norman, a House Republican from South Carolina, Cruz said term limits were “critical to fixing what’s wrong with Washington DC”.Bemoaning “a government run by a small group of special interests and lifelong, permanently entrenched politicians … totally unaccountable to the American people”, he said: “Terms limits brings about accountability that is long overdue”.On Sunday, his CBS host, Margaret Brennan, said: “You introduced a bill to limit terms to two six-year terms in office for senators. Why aren’t you holding yourself to that standard? You said you’re running for a third term.”Cruz said: “Well, listen, I’m a passionate defender of term limits. I think that Congress would work much better if every senator were limited to two terms, if every House member were limited to three terms. I’ve introduced a constitutional amendment to put that into the constitution.”Brennan said: “But you’re still running.”Cruz said: “And if and when [the term limits amendment] passes I will happily, happily comply. I’ve never said I’m going to unilaterally comply. I’ll tell you what, when the socialists and when the swamp …”Brennan interrupted, asking: “Are you running for president?”Cruz carried on, saying “… are ready to leave Washington, I will be more than happy to comply by the same rules that apply for every one. But until then, I’m going to keep fighting for 30 million Texans because they’ve asked me to do” so.Brennan said: “I think you’ve heard me ask if you’re running for president.”Cruz said: “I’m running for re-election to the Senate. There’s a reason I’m in Texas today. I’m not in Iowa, I’m in Texas, and I’m fighting for 30 million Texans.”In 2018, 4.26 million Texans voted to send Cruz back to the Senate. More than 4 million voted to restrict him to one term.TopicsTed CruzRepublicansUS SenateUS CongressUS politicsTexasnewsReuse this content More

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      George Santos accused of sexual harassment by congressional aide

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      George Santos accused of sexual harassment by congressional aideDerek Myers alleges he was put to work as a volunteer before controversial Republican touched him and asked him over The embattled New York Republican congressman George Santos has been accused of sexual harassment by a former aide.George Santos’s lies are so big you almost have to admire them | Emma BrockesRead moreSantos already faces local, state, federal and international investigations over professional and personal behaviour, campaign finance filings and a campaign résumé shown to be largely made-up.He has admitted embellishing his résumé but denied wrongdoing and said he will not resign, as members of his own party and Democrats have repeatedly urged him to do.Republican leaders who must govern with a slim House majority have stood by him, though he has withdrawn from two committees.On Friday, the former aide, Derek Myers, published on Twitter a letter to the House ethics committee in which he claimed to have been put to work in Santos’s office as a volunteer, in violation of ethics rules, and to have been harassed.“Today,” he wrote, “I filed a police report with Capitol police and a complaint with the House ethics committee regarding ethical violations and sexual harassment by Congressman George Santos during my time working in his office.Myers added: “These matters will not be litigated on social media or through news media. They are serious offenses and the evidence and facts will speak for themselves if the committee takes up the matter. This tweet is being made public in light of transparency.”In his letter, Myers wrote that he was “alone with the congressman” in his personal office on 25 January, going over constituents’ mail.“The congressman earlier in the day had asked me if I had a Grindr profile,” Myers wrote, “which is widely known as an LGBTQ+ social networking app, more commonly used for sexual intercourse”.Santos told him he had a profile, he said.In the personal office, Myers alleged, Santos “called me ‘buddy’ and insisted I sit next to him on a small sofa”.The congressman, Myers said, put a hand on his knee and asked if he wanted to go out to karaoke. Myers said he declined, whereupon Santos moved his hand to Myers’ inner thigh and groin.Myers alleged Santos said: “My husband is out of town tonight if you want to come over.” Myers said he pushed Santos away and left the office.Five days later, he wrote, he was asked, as he had been during his hiring process, about his background as a journalist in Ohio, where he faced wiretapping charges after publishing recorded court testimony. The next day, Myers says, he was “informed that my job offer was being rescinded”.The New York Times reported that a spokesperson for the ranking Democrat on the House ethics committee acknowledged receipt of Myers’ letter. The paper said Capitol police did not confirm receipt of a report.Santos’s lawyer declined to comment, the paper said.On Thursday, Santos told Semafor he did not hire Myers because of the Ohio charges. Santos’s chief of staff said the same to Talking Points Memo (TPM), to which Myers gave a recording of the conversation with Santos in which he was let go.Santos said Myers’ charges in Ohio were “not concerning to us, it’s concerning to this institution”. Myers told TPM that as Santos spoke, he was “thinking to myself, ‘I’m a threat and concern to this institution – George Santos, you’re George Santos!’”TopicsGeorge SantosRepublicansUS CongressHouse of RepresentativesUS politicsnewsReuse this content More

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      New add to George Santos’s résumé: producer on Spider-Man musical

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      New add to George Santos’s résumé: producer on Spider-Man musicalReports emerge that the embattled New York congressman told donors of his role, which the lead producer denies Just as it seemed the well of bizarre stories about George Santos might have begun to run dry, it was reported on Friday that the New York Republican congressman told potential donors he was a producer on the notoriously ill-fated Spider-Man musical.George Santos’s lies are so big you almost have to admire them | Emma BrockesRead moreBloomberg News said: “The lead producer, Michael Cohl, denied Santos’s involvement, saying through an assistant that [Santos] wasn’t a producer on the musical. Santos’s name also never appeared in the playbills for the show.”Santos and his lawyers did not immediately comment.Santos, 34, won election to Congress in New York’s third district in November. Since then, he has been consumed by revelations about his largely made-up educational and professional résumé; disproven claims about his family history including supposed links to the Holocaust and 9/11; allegations of criminal behaviour; and even reports that he once appeared as a drag queen in Brazil.He has admitted embellishing his résumé but denied wrongdoing and said he will not resign from Congress, which Republicans in his district and state and many leading Democrats have repeatedly demanded.Amid investigations at the local, state, federal and international levels – including of his campaign finance filings, personal wealth and business activities under a different name, Anthony Devolder – Santos this week stepped down from two committees to which he was named by Republican leaders.He said he wanted to “focus on serving the constituents of New York’s third congressional district and providing federal level representation without distraction”.That seems unlikely.Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark featured ambitious stagecraft and songs by U2’s Bono and the Edge but was badly reviewed and never trouble-free, including a number of performers suffering injuries. Its Broadway run lasted from 2011 to 2014, when it closed with losses of millions of dollars.Bloomberg noted that during the time the musical was on Broadway, Santos went from living in Brazil to working at a call centre in Queens and founding a charity to raise money for sick animals that is now being investigated after a military veteran accused Santos of absconding with money raised for his dog.The dog died. Santos denies the claim.Santos remains in the House as a valuable vote for Kevin McCarthy, the Republican speaker who must work with a narrow majority. Santos doggedly supported McCarthy through 15 votes for the position of speaker early last month.On Thursday night, meanwhile, a recording emerged of Santos firing an aide who had been on staff a little more than a week.The aide, Dan Myers, was previously a reporter in Ohio who faced criminal charges for publishing recorded legal testimony.Experience: I fell 30ft dressed as Spider-ManRead moreIn Myers’s recorded exchange with Santos, the congressman boasted about messaging with a CNN host.“Don Lemon just texted me – I’m sorry, I’m listening to you – Don Lemon just texted me!” Santos said.He also discussed the merits and costs of Botox treatments before saying Myers’s past problems in Ohio were “not concerning to us, it’s concerning to this institution”.Myers gave the recording to Talking Points Memo. He told the website that as Santos spoke, he was “thinking to myself, ‘I’m a threat and concern to this institution –George Santos, you’re George Santos!’”TopicsGeorge SantosUS CongressUS politicsnewsReuse this content More

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      Heated debate in US Congress as Ilhan Omar ousted from committee – video

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      The House Republican majority voted to remove the Minnesota congresswoman Ilhan Omar from the foreign affairs committee on Thursday, after a heated debate. The resolution to oust Omar condemned comments she had made about Israel that had drawn accusations by Republicans and some Democrats of antisemitism. She had apologised and acknowledged that her remarks played on antisemitic tropes

      Ilhan Omar’s removal from panel was ‘stupidest vote’, says Republican – report More

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      'Is anyone surprised I'm being targeted?' Ilhan Omar ousted from key House committee – video

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      The US congresswoman Ilhan Omar has said her ‘voice will get louder and stronger’ after Republicans voted to expel the Minnesota Democrat from the House foreign affairs committee on Thursday as punishment for her past remarks on Israel. Omar struck a defiant note in a speech shortly before the votes were counted, accusing Republicans of trying to silence her because she is a Muslim immigrant, and promising to continue speaking out. ‘Is anyone surprised that I am being targeted? Is anyone surprised that I am somehow deemed unworthy to speak about American foreign policy? Or that they see me as a powerful voice that needs to be silenced? Frankly, it is expected because when you push power, power pushes back,’ Omar said

      Ilhan Omar defiant as Republicans oust her from key House committee More

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      Congress struggles with police reform: Politics Weekly America podcast

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      While attending the funeral of Tyre Nichols, the 29-year-old man beaten to death by police in Memphis, Tennessee, this week, Kamala Harris called on Congress to pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, which passed in the House in 2021 but failed in the Senate.
      Jonathan Freedland speaks to Dr David Thomas, of Florida Gulf Coast University, about why lawmakers find police reform a difficult issue to legislate on

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      Archive: MSNBC, CBS, NBC, PBS Listen to our episode on the special counsel investigation into Joe Biden’s keeping of classified documents. Buy tickets for the Bernie Sanders live event here. Send your questions and feedback to podcasts@theguardian.com. Help support the Guardian by going to theguardian.com/supportpodcasts. More